Anyone who knows me knows that I have a love-hate relationship with my medication. I absolutely loathe taking the tablets, but I know that they do help in the long run. Some of those that I have been prescribed along the way, I have managed to persuade the prescriber to abandon often because of how they taste — or feel in my mouth.

Inspired by Andrew

In the last month, I have resolved to be much better at taking all of my medications when I need to. I must admit that I have been very much encouraged to do this by watching my husband, Andrew, cope with taking his pills for his type 2 diabetes. You can follow his progress on his blog over the last three months at typo2.ie.

A dietician helped

Over the years that I have been receiving dialysis, my relationship with the dieticians has never been the best. On Friday, a new dietician arrived in to speak with me. She explained why one of the medications was necessary in a way that made much more sense. I confirmed with her that I had not been taking it. This explained why through the dialysis journey successive doctors had upped the dosage because it apparently was not working. Well it would be difficult for it to work if it wasn’t being taken! We agreed that I would revert to one tablet with food each meal, rather than the three prescribed currently, and see what progress we could make.

A seven-day pill box

As part of this, I have just spent a few minutes boxing all the meds for the coming week in a handy seven-day pill box.

The medications included are:

• Juluca,
• Trandate,
• Renagel,
• Dapsone,
• Protizole,
• Becotide inhaler (preventer), and
• Ventolin inhaler (reliever).

My plan is to take each individual day’s pill box with me wherever I go and then I should find it easier to take the tablets when they are meant to be taken. Wish me luck!

Accountability is key

As part of my strategy for success, I’ll aim to update my progress on Instagram as I take each pill or group of pills.